Closure device for shoes, particularly for ski shoes

ABSTRACT

A closure device for a shoe has a housing, a Geneva mechanism with a Geneva wheel journalled for rotation relative to the housing, a pulley coaxially secured to the Geneva wheel, and a pair of tie cables each having one end secured on the pulley and the other end on the housing, thereby forming a pair of tie loops engaged to the shoe upper and operable for being wound on the pulley by rotating the Geneva wheel for releasably tying the shoe upper.

United States Patent 1191 PARTICULARLY FOR SKI SHOES Robert Schoch,Singen/Hohentwiel, Germany Inventor:

Assignee: Weinmann Aktiengesellschaft,

Schafthausen, Switzerland Filed: Mar. 13, 1973 Appl. No.2 340,899

Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 21, 1972 Germany 2213720 US. Cl.24/68 SK, 36/50 Int. Cl. A436 11/00 Field of Search 36/2.5 AL, 50; 24/68SK Schoch May 7, 1974 1 CLOSURE DEVICE FOR SHOES, 3,262,167 7/1966Martin 36/50 3,711,900 1/1973 Schoch 24/68 $11 Primary'Examiner-DonaldA. Griffin Attorney, Agent, 0r-Firm--Ernest F. Marmorek [5 7] ABSTRACT Aclosure device for a shoe has a housing, a Genevagaged to the shoe upperand operable for being wound on the pulley by rotating the Geneva wheelfor releasably tying the shoe upper.

6 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEnm 1 m4 3808.644

SHEET 3 [IF 3 1 CLOSURE DEVICE FOR SHOES, PARTICULARLY FOR SKI SIIOEScRoss REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS Reference is had to applicationSer. No. 183,991, filed Sept. 27, 1971 now US. Pat. No. 3,711,900, andto patent application Ser. No. 184,108, filed Sept. 27, 1971 and now US.Pat. No. 3,738,027 issued June 12, 1973.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a closure devicefor shoes, I

especially for ski shoes of the type which has been described inapplicants prior application Ser. No. 184,108. According to this priorapplication, two tie links or connecting straps are attached to rimportions of shoe flaps respectively, the tie links or straps are hingedto a disc which is positioned between the shoe flaps and rotatable aboutits axis in such a manner that during its rotation the tie links arepulled towards or pushed away from each other.

The disc, at least partially, has the form of a Geneva or star wheel andthe tie links are hinged or flexibly mounted on the disc by means ofconnecting pins; furthermore, the projections or shoulders of the Genevastar wheel define a radial guiding slot which is always in engagementwith a stud of a driving element which is arranged for rotation in theplane of the disc. The stud which is eccentrically mounted on thedriving ele ment therefore turns the Geneva star wheel during therotation of the driving element. The driving element, supporting twodriving studs at most, is in addition provided with a cam having twoconvexly shaped end surfaces cooperating with corresponding recesses ofthe Geneva star wheel which have the same radius and thus formingthereby a positive lock.

The disc preferably is provided with two or three projections andaccordingly with three or four recesses arranged around its entirecircumference so that three or four rest positions of the tie links arepossible. If two arms or shoulders of the Geneva star wheel are provided(forming an angle of 60 relative to each other), the disc definestherefore also two guiding grooves for engaging the stud.

According to a particularly advantageous embodi- FIG. 1 is a back viewof the closure of the above described type, shown without the lid, inits released position;

FIG. 2 is a back view of the closure of FIG. 1 without the lid, in itsclosing position; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation view taken along the line A-A of FIG. 1,with the lid attached.

The embodiment'as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 has been shown in FIGS. 17 to 20in the aforementioned patent application Ser. No. 184,108. In FIGS. 1 to3, 10 denotes the closure located between the flaps of a shoe. Aone-piece tie cable 11 is provided at its middle point with acylindrical nipple 12 which is soldered thereto. The disc 13 is axiallyconnected with a pulley I4 and forms therewith a single piece; in thecenter opening 15 of the disc and pulley is inserted a nipple 12. Thetwo shoulders or end portions of the cable 11 lie in opposite grooves ornotches 16 of the pulley 14. In an enclosure l7 of nylon are providedguiding passages 18 for the two free portions or shoulders of the cable11. In turning an actuating knob 19 the disc 13 together with the pulley14 are rotated and the cable, in accordance with the direction ofturning, is wound on or unwound from the pulley. On both ends of thecable 11 there are soldered or otherwise fixedly connected to which isnecessary for turning the actuating member is reduced for about a half.

Another object of this invention is to shorten the path betweenindividual resting positions of the Geneva star wheel.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a possibility formounting additional fine adjusting means on the housing of the closuredevice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to this invention the above objectsare attained by providing the closure device as described in FIGS. 1 and3 and by substituting the one-piece or twopiece tie cable having freeends for two cable loops each being fonned by attaching a free end of atie cable piece to the rotatable disc and the other end to the housingof the closure device. By rotating the disc the cable loops are eitherextended or contracted. Both loops are preferably made of a rust freesteel cable but ment of the modification of this type,'the free end ofeach tie cable is secured to a nipple which fits and cooperates with thereceiving member on the flap of the shoe.

To take up the tie cable, the Geneva star wheel is axially secured to apulley (preferably made as a single piecewith the star wheel). Also thismodification has been described in the patent application Ser. No.184,108 and is illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 in the accompanying drawingwhere:

plastic material is also applicable.

For a better understanding of this invention, reference is had to thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with FIGS. 4 to 7 ofthe accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 4 is a plane cutaway view of the closure device of this invention;

FIG. 5 is a back view of the closure device with its lid removed, in itsexpanded position;

FIG. 6 is a similar view as that in FIG. 5 of the closure device in itsconstricted position;

FIG. 7 is a sectional elevation view taken along the line BB of FIG. 6;and

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 5, though partly in.

section, showing a fine adjustment device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to FIGS. 5 to 7, the closure device22 of this invention has a tiltable winged handle 23 which is connectedto an axle of a driving member of a conventional Geneva movementmechanism. The winged handle 23 is tiltable between an inactive positionwhen bent against the housing 24 of. the closure device 22 and an activeposition for turning the axle. The design of the Geneva movementmechanism corresponds substantially to that as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 andas it has been described in the patent application Ser. No. 184,108. TheGeneva star wheel is designated by reference numeral 25. A cable pulley27 integrally connected to the Geneva wheel 25 carries nipples 28 towhich one end of respective cable loops 26 is fixedly connected. Theother end of the loops 26 are secured to nipples 29 which are attachedto or suspended on the housing 24. As it has been mentioned above, theGeneva star wheel 25 and the cable pulley 27 are formed as one piece. Byturning the actuating handle 23 the shoulders of the cable loops 26which are secured to the cable pulley 27 are either wound on or unwoundfrom the pulley 27 and consequently the cable loops 26 are eitherexpanded or contracted. The bent portions of the loops 26 can be hookedup to any conventional receiving means on the shoe flap to close or toopen the flaps of a ski shoe.

In comparison with the prior embodiment as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 themodification according to FIGS. to 7 has the substantial advantage'thatthe force exerted on the actuating member 33 is reduced by half. Inaddition, the distance between individual arresting positions of theGeneva star wheel correspond also to the bald distance of those in theprior art embodiment. Moreover, there is a possibility to mount on theyhousing 24 a fine adjustment device 30 which engages the loop 26 nearits attachment on the housing 24.

The fine adjustment device 30 as shown in FIG. 8 includes an adjustmentscrew 31 that has a central bore through which passes the end portion ofthe loop 26. The projecting end of the loop 26 is provided with a nipple33 that abuts against the annular top of the adjusting screw 31. Thescrew 31 is axially adjustable within a threaded recess 32 in thehousing 24. The location of the threaded recess 32 corresponds to thatof the attachment 29 in FIG. 5.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to theexact details of construction shown and described,'for obviousmodifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tobe secured by Letters Patent. is as follows:

1. A closure device for use in connection with a shoe upper havingreceiving means for receiving a tie cable.

said closure device comprising in combination,

a housing; 1

a Geneva movement mechanism including a Geneva wheel journalled forrotation relative to said housing and a driver operable for turning saidGeneva wheel;

a cable pulley coaxially secured to said Geneva wheel; and i at leastone tie cable having one end secured to said pulley and the other endsecured to said housing thereby forming a loop adapted to be engagedwith said receiving means and windable upon said pulley when said Genevawheel is rotated, for releasably tying said upper.

2. A closure device according to claim 1 comprising a pair of cableshaving their ends arranged opposite each other to form two counteractingloops each engaging a receiving means on said shoe upper.

3. A closure device according to claim 1 further including a lineadjusting means operable for engaging said cable near its attachment onsaid housing.

4. A' closure device according to claim 1 further including a handleconnected to said driver above said housing.

5. A closure device according to claim 4 wherein said handle is providedwith wings tiltable between an inactive position bent out-of-the-way andan active upright position for turning said driver.

6. A closure device according to claim 1 said pulley being integral withsaid Geneva wheel.

1. A closure device for use in connection with a shoe upper havingreceiving means for receiving a tie cable, said closure devicecomprising in combination, a housing; a Geneva movement mechanismincluding a Geneva wheel journalled for rotation relative to saidhousing and a driver operable for turning said Geneva wheel; a cablepulley coaxially secured to said Geneva wheel; and at least one tiecable having one end secured to said pulley and the other end secured tosaid housing thereby forming a loop adapted to be engaged with saidreceiving means and windable upon said pulley when said Geneva wheel isrotated, for releasably tying said upper.
 2. A closure device accordingto claim 1 comprising a pair of cables having their ends arrangedopposite each other to form two counteracting loops each engaging areceiving means on said shoe upper.
 3. A closure device according toclaim 1 further including a fine adjusting means operable for engagingsaid cable near its attachment on said housing.
 4. A closure deviceaccording to claim 1 further including a handle connected to said driverabove said housing.
 5. A closure device according to claim 4 whereinsaid handle is provided with wings tiltable between an inactive positionbent out-of-the-way and an active upright position for turning saiddriver.
 6. A closure device according to claim 1 said pulley beingintegral with said Geneva wheel.